Online film and television piracy is a cancer that will kill the Australian industry within the next few years, according to actor John Jarratt.

New research, presented today at the 69th Australian International Movie Convention on the Gold Coast, showed piracy was increasing in Australia, with 29 per cent of adults admitting to being active pirates, up 4 per cent from 2013.

It also showed people were increasing their frequency of downloading pirated film and television content.

Wolf Creek star Jarratt said fans needed to realise they were "killing the goose that laid the golden egg".

"They are our fans, they love us and our movies, they are the problem but they are the solution," he told the ABC.

"It's called piracy cancer... and it's fatal at the moment and it's going to kill the Australian film industry - there's no doubt about that - very, very shortly and within the next few years.

"There's a cure to this cancer, and it's simply buy your entertainment like you have to buy everything else in this world. You're not supposed to take things for nothing and steal from people and take their livelihood.

"If you could download an aeroplane ticket and fly anywhere in the world they'd soon put an end to it."

Jarratt said himself and film crews were going broke and going out of business, and people did not want to invest in Australian independent filmmaking because it was very hard to make a profit.

"It's called piracy cancer... and it's fatal at the moment and it's going to kill the Australian film industry there's no doubt about that very, very shortly and within the next few years."

John Jarratt, Australian actor

"Because the pirating is so heavy, we were going from billion-dollar DVD industry when you had to go down to Blockbuster and buy your DVD on a Friday night for the weekend, to people being able to illegally download from home," he said.

"We're not getting paid for our efforts. So you're getting my hard-earned effort for nothing if you illegally download."

Jarratt said there were several steps that needed to be taken to save the industry.

"We've got start blocking the piracy portals. We need to educate our beloved fans who love our industry that they're actually killing us, and we have to make it much more accessible to buy your films online," he said.

"No matter which way or what way it goes, it has to be paid for like everything else.

"However we do that through education, through legislation and us making it more feasible to buy, we can't give anything away for nothing."

Education and legislation needed to save industry

IP Awareness Foundation executive director Lori Flekser said she believed the solution to online piracy was a combination of legislation that provided framework to protect copyright and education to help consumers understand the value of content and impact of piracy.

More pirates, stealing more frequently

29 per cent of Australians aged 18-64 are active pirates, compared with 25 per cent in 2013.

Of the most active pirates, 55 per cent are downloading pirated movies weekly, an increase of 20 per cent since 2013.

Piracy activity increases with age. Activity peaks in the 18-24 year-old group, with 54 per cent admitting to actively accessing pirated films and television shows.

The majority of Australian adults agree that the internet requires more regulation (52 per cent) to prevent individuals from downloading or streaming pirated content.

Australian adults and teens, including active pirates, agree there is an increasing number of options for people to legally obtain and watch TV series and movies

National online quantitative study was conducted with Australians aged 12-64, from June – August 2014 by Sycamore Research and Newspoll.

"I think our focus has to be on young people [and] where the habits start," she said.

"We can see from research, piracy increases with age. We really want people to understand in their teens what the real impact of pirating is.

"We want to see a landscape in which copyright is respected and the law helps to protect content creators, distributors and exhibitors."

Ms Flekser said the research showed a trend towards an increasing disregard for the value of content.

"This builds on what we know of Australia's profile as a nation of avid online pirates," she said.

"With the issue of copyright reforms now very much on the table, our research reinforces the urgency for a clear legislative framework that guides online behaviours and restricts access to unauthorised or unlicensed content."

She said the research also showed pirating was still not the social norm amongst Australians, despite the assertion "everyone does it".

It showed 60 per cent of Australian adults and 66 per cent of Australians aged 12 to 17 said they have never downloaded or streamed pirated content.

Education starts at home: Jeremy Sims

Filmmaker Jeremy Sims said he was alarmed by the high rates of piracy in Australia and the impact on the industry.

He said his Australian war film, Beneath Hill 60, released more than four years ago, was still being pirated.

"If you contemplate even some of that foregone revenue, it may well equate to the difference between a filmmaker's next feature being funded, or not," Sims said.

"I think parents can do a lot to help by teaching their kids how downloading films and television without paying for them threatens people's livelihoods and an industry's wellbeing and is basically just stealing.

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